October 10

Let Him Take All

Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ — Matt 22:37 BSB

The first thing we need to understand is that God wants our love. We can give Him the highest honor, but that isn’t enough. We ought to obey Him, for He is our God and King, and we owe Him our full obedience. But even that isn’t enough. We owe Him service because we belong to Him, and we should pour out our lives for Him. But it’s not honor, obedience, or service that this command requires—God asks for our love. If it were possible to give Him all the honor, obedience, and service of angels without love, He still wouldn’t be satisfied. Only love will do.

We are also told the measure of love we are to give to God—it must be all-consuming. God wants no half-hearted love. He must be loved above all else—more than all dear friends, more than all worldly things. This love must involve our whole life, heart, soul, mind, and strength; it must lead to complete dedication.

Imagine a mother giving her child a beautiful plant in bloom and asking her to give it to a sick friend. The child takes the plant, but when she reaches the friend’s door, she plucks off one leaf and gives it to her, keeping the plant herself. Then each week, she plucks another leaf, a bud, or a flower and gives it to the friend, keeping the plant. Has she obeyed? No. Only giving the whole plant would be obedience. God asks for all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, yet we often only give Him little bits of our love, keeping most of it for ourselves. Shouldn’t we say, "Let Him take all"? This commandment calls for the full consecration of our entire lives to God.